Aloha kākou! Kūlia i ka Pūnāwai (Kumu Hula Association of Southern California) held its FOURTH annual Hula Camp last weekend at Grindling Hilltop Camp in Malibu. Over 170 happy campers joined nearly 20 kumu hula (and their token academic) for workshop seriousness by day, and all manner of masquerading flash mobs by night.

My workshop was titled “‘Ike Kumu — Sources of Foundational Knowledge.” I led participants in a guided tour of incredible websites with rich rich rich multimedia content of Hawaiian culture and history. There are treasures that many “worker bees” are laboring to connect us with resources and information, mo’olelo and ʻike. Ah, so many resources, so little time . . .

The guided tour was a sampler that, it is hoped, will inspire folks to embark on your own journeys of exploration and discovery. I compiled several sets of starter roadmaps, which are all posted right here on “Hawaiian Music for Listening Pleasure,” under two tabs in the banner menu above:

Read about Hawaiian Music and Hula. Lists of references to publications and writings about Hawaiian music and hula. Any reference librarian would be happy, and excited (and possibly even ecstatic) to help any student use these references to find the actual items.

Preparing this kind of workshop is one of my most favorite activities, because it allows me to surf, surf, surf. (Did I mention I love to surf?) The preparation process is also my own discovery process, as I happen upon recent developments, or I get to burrow around databases checking out what is new since I last visited.